Cinemark movie theaters coming to Holyoke Mall

Cinemark plans to open a theater complex in Holyoke in 2018, said Bryan Jeffries, vice president of marketing and promotions for Cinemark.

Cinemark is already listed as a "coming soon" on the website maintained for the Holyoke Mall by the Pyramid Companies, the mall's owner. Other "coming soon" tenants include the women's clothing store Loft and Sumo Japanese restaurant, which is expected to open before the end of 2017 on the lower level of the mall.

Damian J. Cote, Holyoke building commissioner, said that mall management has come in with a preliminary drawing of the new theater. But the mall hasn't submitted a formal plans.

The 5,000-screen Cinemark chain already has the Rave Cinemas West Springfield 15 theaters 5 miles away; Cinemark Theaters at the Pyramid-owned Hampshire Mall on Route 9 in Hadley, 18 miles from Holyoke; and the Rave Cinemas Eastfield 16 in Springfield's Eastfield Mall, which is 14 miles away.

Cinemark also has a 12-theater Rave Cinemas complex at Enfield Square just over the border in Connecticut that's 16 miles from the Holyoke Mall.

Mall management didn't return calls for comment Tuesday morning.

The Holyoke Mall used to have a theater on the lower level near the food court. It was an eight-screen cinema that opened with the rest of the mall in 1979 and closed in 1988.

There has been talk over the years about creating a new theater at the mall, including a proposal in 1999 for a 21-screen theater. That project was never built.

Despite the travails of brick-and-mortar retail, the Holyoke Mall is still a major regional attraction, according to Pyramid. The 1.6-million-square-foot mall draws 18 million shopper visits a year in a trade area of 1.7 million people. Holyoke Street gets 22,000 cars a day, mall management said.

The mall has space for 200 or more stores.

The mall has been pivoting in recent years away from traditional retail and into businesses that provide in-person experiences that can't be sold online. An example is the Billy Beez kids indoor play area that opened in 2016.

And even with the popularity of home theaters, people still go to the movies.

The Motion Picture Association of America said that 71 percent of the U.S. and Canadian population -- 246 million people -- went to the cinema at least once in 2016, a 2 percent increase from 2015.

Moviegoers who go once a month or more account for 48 percent of all tickets sold in the United States and Canada.

Marcos A. Marrero, director of planning & economic development for the city of Holyoke, said the mall has an aggressive leasing team and hasn't needed city help filling space. He didn't know of the movie theater project.

Holyoke Mall has no large vacant space. But Sears, a tenant since the mall opened in 1979, is in deep financial trouble and has been closing locations all over the country.